Endless belts, such as those used on conveyance devices and more commonly referred to as conveyer belts are generally formed and/or extended around at least two driving wheels. By turning the driving wheels, the conveyer belt may be run endlessly. Conveyer belts may generally be flexible and deformable at least while running in contact with the driving wheels. A multitude of materials, linkages, and so forth have been used to achieve this end.
Conveyer belts are sometimes used in situations where x-rays and other forms of irradiation or other non-intrusive inspection techniques are used to examine objects and the insides of objects on the conveyer belt. In such situations, it is often desirable to form a conveyer belt of materials that are substantially transparent to the x-rays, other forms of irradiation, etc. so that an inspector may more clearly view the inside of the object on the conveyer belt without the conveyer belt obscuring the view. For example, airports may use a detection device at passenger entry points to check for and identify objects in luggage, bags, packages and the like. This can be a valuable step in an airport security process to ensure that passengers are not carrying objects which could be used in a harmful manner on airplanes.
Some airport security equipment for scanning baggage and the like includes a conveyor belt which passes through x-ray equipment. X-rays may be emitted from a source on one or more sides of the traversing baggage and received on an opposite side. A picture of each bag may be sent to a screen to be viewed by security personnel. The security personnel can interpret these pictures and identify any potentially harmful objects which may be in the baggage. The security equipment may further include a cage or other device to allow security personnel to access the baggage after it exits the x-ray equipment while preventing a passenger from accessing the baggage.
Often security personnel may have difficulty in quickly and accurately identifying which baggage item among several contained the potentially harmful object. Additionally, in some cases after baggage is x-rayed and an image displayed to the security personnel, if there is not another item of baggage to be scanned shortly thereafter, the image will remain on the screen at least for a short duration. Such a delay in providing a subsequent image, as well as the difficulty in accurately identifying one baggage item among many (which may be similar in appearance) can lead to confusion and passenger delay. In some instances, the baggage item desired to be inspected by the airport security personnel may exit the cage area and be picked up by a passenger before being inspected. Such a scenario can lead to re-inspection of all baggage past the security point. Flights may be delayed or canceled. Many or all would-be airline passengers may have to have their flights rebooked. Costs to an airport or airline in terms of rebooking passengers, re-inspecting baggage, and rescheduling flights can be significant.
It is desirable therefore to provide a system and method to allow security personnel to more easily identify baggage on a conveyer belt to reduce confusion, costs, and delays resulting from deficiencies in current systems.